SUNDAY REFLECTIONS 30th Sunday (23 October 2011) Exodus 22:20-26; 1 Thessalonians
1:5-10; Matthew 22:34-30
Love of God is the essence of our Christian life. Our Christian religion is based
on the love of God and the love of our neighbours. The love of God implies not merely
the notional assent to the truths of faith, but the real, conscious, wholehearted
response that makes God the chief motivation and reason in life. The love of one’s
neighbour is perhaps one of the surprising characteristics of the Christian faith
is the importance given to the duty to love others. Other passages from the Gospel
show the practical import of the Christian precept of love of one’s neighbour and
the association Jesus makes with the poorest and humblest. It is necessary to search
for the personal experience of God, that uniquely religious and sacred experience
that is to be found by those who search for it. This is done principally in silence
and dedication to personal prayer. This requires the time and the disposition to identify
the religious experience of God in our lives and to let it take root in our minds
and hearts. We need to uncluttered our minds and find the time necessary to become
aware of the presence of God in our lives. This is not easy to do, especially as we
have become accustomed to ways of perception and of thinking that are hurried and
functional. It takes a great effort to learn a meditative way of perceiving reality
that allow us, moved by grace, to experience something of the presence of God. The
Gospel of today tells us that we ought to love God our Lord with all our hearts, soul
and strength and love our neighbour as we love ourselves. The Book of Exodus recalls
some specific provisions of the Law with regard to strangers and to the poor and unfortunate.
St Paul on the other hand advices the Thessalonians they have to be an example to
others and he himself has been a guide to them. In the first reading of today from
the Book of Exodus tells us of the loving relationship that the Israelites should
have towards those who were under-privileged. The responsibility was upon the men
because in those days, they were the authority over the families. The under-privileged
were the aliens or the immigrants, those who were forced to leave their homes because
of circumstances such as wars, plagues or famines. The Lord reminds the Israelites
that once they too were as aliens while living in Egypt. Now, their Laws command them
to be warm and helpful to those who are less fortunate as they once were less fortunate.
They are once again reminded of their loving obligation to take care of the needs
of the widows and the orphans. God wanted their needs to be taken care of by those
who were more fortunate. The Israelites were reminded that if the widows and orphans
were neglected or abused and their cries reach out to Heaven, God would hear them
and His anger would punish the aggressors. Their families would suffer the same consequences,
their wives becoming widows, their children becoming orphans. The people were reminded
that if they abused the ancient Law and the victims of this abuse cried out to God
in prayer, He would hear their cries and He would no longer answer the prayers of
those who abused the Law. They would be denied the blessings that they had received
in the past. God is their protector. In the Second Reading, Paul reminds the Thessalonians
of his living example among them for their sake so that they may grow in Christ. He
tells them to imitate him as he imitates Christ. To fully live one's Christian life,
it is necessary to "become imitators of God, as beloved children, to live in love,
as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to
God." Paul acknowledged that through persecution, the Thessalonians persisted in their
living faith, receiving the Word of God with joy that was inspired by the Holy Spirit
so that they could become as living models to others who heard about them in Macedonia
and Achaia. These are the communities where Paul was residing when the good news about
the Thessalonians reached him. Joy in the faith during persecution is the fruit of
the Holy Spirit and true imitation of Christ. In his letter Paul emphasized how the
people had abandoned their idols to serve the true living God. The word idol in this
case meant the false gods that did not exist. True conversion in the living faith
means to completely depart from the worship of idols in order to give oneself wholeheartedly
in the service of God. In a true conversion, the Christian lives the love of God,
truly being the Christian that he claims to be. Paul continued by saying that it is
by living one's faith in Christ that we are rescued from the justice of God that will
befall the unrepentant sinners. We do not know when this justice will come and it
could be immediate or at a distant future. But they are to be ready and remain always
in harmony with God. Otherwise a person can risk being the object of the wrath of
God. As we read and listen to the Gospel we find ourselves at a stage in Matthew's
Gospel where Jesus is being challenged by various leading groups among the Jews. Matthew
after describing Christ’s triumphant entry into Jerusalem on the Sunday before his
crucifixion gives a series of attempts made by his enemies, the Pharisees and the
Sadducees, to catch Jesus in some legalistic or political error. Today’s question
concerned is about the greatest commandment in the Law of Moses. Already Jesus had
reduced a group of Sadducees to silence, much to the delight of their rivals, the
Pharisees. Now it is some Pharisees who approach him with their own question, a question
much debated among themselves: "Which is the greatest commandment of the Law?" Unlike
other encounters, there is not necessarily any malice in this approach. They had many
disputes among themselves as regard to this question. As a Rabbi, influential with
the crowds and known by many as someone with a mind of his own, they wanted to know
Jesus’ opinion. This question was reasonable since like today, the Law of those days
contained 613 different Commandments. 248 of them were favourable while 365 were things
that should not be done. They spent much of their time in arguing over trivial details
of observance. This question given in today’s passage is about going to the very heart
of the matter. Among so many laws, whether there was any law which touched the core
of people's relationship with God. Again, how could one summarize the law for the
sake of people and make them understand in a simple way. Jesus often answered people’s
questions with one of his own but in this case he gives an answer. Here he responded
immediately to their question by combining two commandments into one. He was saying,
"You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and
with your entire mind." The heart was considered as the centre of knowing and feeling,
the soul, the principle of life and the source of all one’s energies, and mind the
centre of perception. Quoting from Deuteronomy 6:5 and Leviticus 19:18, he tells
them that this is the first and most important Commandment. It summarizes the first
four of the Ten Commandments given to Moses. Placing God first in one's life means
walking in faith and in the love of God. The second greatest and equally important
Commandment is, "You shall love your neighbour as yourself." This Commandment summarizes
the last six of the Ten Commandments given to Moses. The second Commandment means
that if we have the love of God within us, it should shine towards others. Love is
meant to be shared, not to be selfishly kept to oneself. Then Jesus said that on
those two Commandments (Laws) hangs the Law and the Prophets. The words mean that
in those two Commandments are found the entire revelation of the Old Testament. Christ’s
clear-cut answer was that the two commandments of the love of God and the love of
neighbour were the essence of the Old Testament and the basis for the New Testament.
This was not only the answer for the Pharisees but an answer and a rule of life for
all of us for all time. To have the love of God as Christ enjoyed it, our acts of
love should be towards God first and then towards our neighbours. Our neighbours include
everyone, our families, our friends and even strangers. Our love for God must be greater
than the love we have for our parents, our brothers and sisters, our spouse and even
our children. Looking at the passage given to us it looks as if the Pharisees may
not have had any evil intention in asking this question. But they did a good service
by getting this crystal clear answer from Jesus. In this answer he tells us that
the man who loves God and his neighbour fulfils all his obligations, and carries out
all the duties that God’s self-revelation in the law and the Prophets imposes on him.
God revealed himself in the Old Testament as a creator and benefactor and looked after
all the needs of people. In his benevolence he shared all he had with humanity and
made humankind partakers in his kingdom of happiness. Jesus strongly emphasizes the
fact that love of our neighbour is an essential part of our obligation towards God.
If we fail in this we fail in our love for God, for we reuse to carry out this sacred
duty. If we fail to recognize our neighbour as our brother we fail to recognize God
as our Father and we do not love him. For Matthew, Jesus is providing the foundation
upon which every Christian must build his or her understanding of the Christian life.
Love of God and love of neighbour must motivate and guide everything a Christian says
and does. The text that Jesus gave meant that we are to love God with everything we
have: a love which is whole hearted, outgoing, performed with conviction, courage
and commitment. The love of God: Jesus reminds the Pharisees that the central commandment
of the Jewish and Christian faith is the love of God implies not merely the notional
assent to the truths of faith, but the real, conscious, wholehearted response that
makes God the chief motivation and reason in life. There is implied a certain human
experience of God and it is the discernment and assimilation of this experience that
is to ground and shape our lives. The second and third commandments remind us of the
challenges we face to the sacred love of God. Jesus was making a significant change
in linking these two commandments together as one and inseparable. From the rest of
the New Testament it is clear that one cannot love God without loving one's brothers
and sisters at the same time. Nor does one love others just for God's sake or to please
God or observe a commandment. One is expected to go much further. One does not go
to God through others but one seeks, finds and loves God in others. In the Final Judgment
he says that as often as we did or did not do an action or work to the very least
of our brothers and sisters, we did or did not do it to Jesus. He identifies himself
with the hungry and thirsty, with the naked, the sick and those in prison. Jesus identifies
himself with those in most need of love and compassion. He is also to be loved in
the leper, the alcoholic, the drug addict, the homeless, the outcast and even in the
enemy who threatens us. The readings of today easily remind us how God expresses
his love for us. Most of the time, God shows his love for us through the people that
enter our life. He loves us when they love the other and we love God when we sincerely
love our brother. Matthew tells us that Jesus does not hesitate when asked what the
greatest command is in the scriptures. They are the commandments to love. They tell
us of a love which involves treating every single person with deep respect, with justice,
with compassion. It reaches out even to those who behave badly or wish to harm me.
The Old Testament reading tells us of God’s compassionate response to the cry of the
poor, the widow, the orphans and the foreigners. Paul tells the people how they become
imitators of the Lord and models for others to follow. This is how God works in our
lives. God loves us and his love is a continual and everlasting love. He does call
us to respond and sometimes we respond making this love present to others. Sometimes
we do reject that intimate love of his. However, God does not stop loving us and
he constantly searches for our love. God’s love is offered to human persons and is
never taken back. It comes in the sunset, in friendship, in our service to others,
and in our desire for intimate connection. God expects us to respond to this love
through our gratitude to him and express it in our service to our brothers and sisters.
Strangely enough, to implement these loves effectively, we may have to reverse the
order: love of self, leading to love others, leading finally to love of God. In
New York City, on a cold day in December, a little boy, about 10-years-old, was standing
before a shoe store on the roadway, barefooted, peering through the window, and shivering
with cold. A lady approached the young boy and said, 'my, but you're in such deep
thought staring in that window!' 'I was asking God to give me a pair of shoes,’ was
the boy's reply. The lady took him by the hand, went into the store, and asked the
clerk to get half a dozen pairs of socks for the boy. She then asked if he could give
her a basin of water and a towel. He quickly brought them to her. She took the little
fellow to the back part of the store and, removing her gloves, knelt down, washed
his little feet, and dried them with the towel. By this time, the clerk had returned
with the socks. Placing a pair upon the boy's feet, she purchased him a pair of shoes.
She tied up the remaining pairs of socks and gave them to him. She patted him on the
head and said, 'No doubt, you will be more comfortable now.' As she turned to go,
the astonished kid caught her by the hand and looking up into her face, with tears
in his eyes, asked her. 'Are you God'? No, said the woman. I am only his child. The
boy smiled and said. I knew it all the time. You are some relation of his.